Sport

I will do the town proud, says Bury boxer Scott Quigg ahead of world title defence

SCOTT Quigg is relishing the chance to do home-town Bury proud again on Saturday when he defends his WBA super-bantamweight title against South African Tshifhiwa Munyai as top of the bill at Manchester’s Phones4U arena.

Ever since his explosive defence against Argentine Diego Silva at the same venue in November, the 25-year-old has been working hard to get back into the ring.

And with just 24 hours to go before the big night, he says he is in prime condition to add the 28-year-old, who has lost just two of 27 fights to date, to his list of scalps.

Munyai, nicknamed The Atomic Spider, is a late replacement opponent for Quigg after visa problems prevented Venezuelan Nehomar Cermeno from travelling to Manchester.

But Quigg is still anticipating a tough test and believes it is important to overcome fighters with different levels of experience and styles as part of his own learning process.

Quigg told the Bury Times: “I know he will be well-schooled and I have to make sure I’m ready for a very tough fight.

“These are the fights I want to make me a better fighter at this level.”

After a short break for Christmas, following his victory over Silva on the undercard of the Carl Froch v George Groves epic at the same venue, Quigg was quickly back in the gym.

A four-week training camp on the west coast of America was the start of preparations for his Easter showdown and Quigg says it has been another fantastic preparation, much like the one he had for that second-round stoppage against Silva.

The world champion added: “Training has been really good. I started the year off in America at the Wild Card gym, getting in four good weeks.

“It was about improving my game and learning new things like being in the ring with different styles of fighter.

“I came back and we have gone from strength to strength, adding to what I learned over there and I feel I’m in a really good place at the minute.

“You look at the last fight against Silva and you may think you don’t learn much from a two-round fight but I learned a lot in training for it.

“Just because I knocked him out early does not mean he wasn’t any good – it just shows we got our preparation spot on.

“This will be tough against a strong opponent, but I am confident and in great shape and cannot wait to walk out again at the Arena, do the town proud and put on a show for the fans.”